What We Saw
by antimoony
Summary: At Edward's funeral, some decades after the Promised Day, the next generation of their families – the grandchildren of the involved at the Promised Day event - asked the elder to tell them more about their adventures. They'll recall memories of war, life, death and, above all, love. Royai, EdWin, AlMei, Team Mustang, Parental!RoyEd, Parental!RizaEd.
Ok, here it is, my first fanfiction!

I would like to apologize in advance, tho: English is not my mother language, so I probably killed your grammar at some point, guys! Feel free to correct me!

I know this is starting really angst, but DON'T KILL ME, it'll get lighter, I promise.

Enjoy.

-

They were already in bed, watching a recently invented color television, when the phone rang.

She watched as Roy walked slowly and reached for the receiver. Sitting at the coach besides the coffee table, he brought the phone to his ear and listened as a female voice escaped. Roy only uttered some words of understanding and looked at her, lips thin and eyes full of grief. And when Riza Mustang saw the pain in husband's eyes, she felt that sinking feeling grab her stomach: he was gone.

It's not like they weren't expecting this. Edward had told them what happened at North, how he had to use his own life as a philosopher stone in order to heal a deadly wound. If he hadn't done that, he certainly would be dead in a few minutes – and, after a few months, the whole country would be dead as well, by the hands of the Homunculi. The consequence of this act was losing an amount of years from his life and, back then, literally only God himself knew how many. When Roy heard of that, he didn't react in front of the – at the time – young boy. He knew it was his only option, and he would have done exactly the same thing, so it was pointless to talk about this. But later, alone with her at the office, he expressed his concern towards how many years had Edward lost doing that. After all, if some organ was damaged when he was pierced, it would have taken a great amount of energy to heal it enough so he could survive without further complications. That was how equivalent exchange worked, and Roy knew that the prodigy alchemist knew that too.

As the decades passed by, they saw Edward get older somewhat faster than the natural. It started subtle, but by the age of 40 he already looked like he was fifteen years older than that, the age Roy should appear to have. Should, but didn't because, ironic as the life was, she and Roy were yet to feel the worst effects of aging. Of course they didn't had the stamina to run and fight around the country using undercover and codes, nor they had that beauty of the young age anymore, but in general they were in a really good shape for sexagenarians. Maybe it was because the daily exercises and the crappy tested but well balanced food they ate for so long working in the military, but even with that logical explanation, she couldn't help but think it was really unfair that they, who had killed so many, were living healthily for so long and that boy… that boy who saved everyone was now dead at the age of 52.

She thought of the last time they saw him, a month ago, so fragile. He was appearing to have something like 25 years more than he actually had. So that was the cost for saving his own life, their lives. She could hear his voice in her head; she was proud to see that voice changing along his life, a shattered kid voice changing into a strong and confident adult one. She was proud of him, and she felt lucky that she had such an amazing person in her life for all these years.

 _"Lieutenant Hawkeye! What are you doing here in Central? Wait, if you are here, that means…"_

That was hurting.

 _"It was good to see you, Bastard. And you too, Mrs. Mustang. I hope to see you again, anytime."_

Make it stop. Please make it stop. She was feeling like she had lost a child, and that was exactly what happened: they had just lost one of the two sons they had at a time they couldn't have a biological one for the sake of their goals. Her heart would fit in a match box.

She didn't sense Roy sitting by her side, so out of nowhere she was surprised by the feeling of his hug and felt his tears. She felt his heart beating like crazy, and she herself was breathless with sobs. They had to cry all they need to now in order to have the strength to support Edward's family. Winry and Alphonse would need all the help they could give.

"It was peaceful, I -" Mustang stopped with a strangled sob "We need to call Maes and Elizabeth… Winry asked if we could be there by tomorrow morning, you know… for…"

She stopped to listen what he was saying at the exactly time she heard their son and daughter names. They would be so crushed by this…

Most part of the involved in the Promised Day had become a huge family, keeping in touch with each other and witnessing as they accomplished dreams and goals, as they grew older and gain more members as a family, with kids appearing and people tying the knot every now and then. It was not uncommon that big reunions happened at Armstrong mansion, Resembool or Mustang's House. They would all eat, laugh and Edward – always Edward – would tell the children the tales of their young age. The kids would listen to "Uncle's Ed" funny stories of the alchemists and militaries. At the right age, he would tell about more serious matters like Ishval, the Homunculi and how they won the war against them together. The adults never thought of hiding them the truth, and considered a positive thing that they had some acknowledge of bad things that mustn't happen again, especially in this democratic age they should treasure so much. They were the future generation she always dreamt that would see a better Amestris and, indeed, they were seeing. Unfortunately, one of the people who helped to make it real was now gone, and Riza couldn't help but lament the fact that their grandchildren didn't get much chance of hearing Edward's stories.

After some minutes, she finally gained the strength to get up, and went to the same phone that just had brought them the sad news. She would call Maes and Elizabeth, and then get some tickets to the first train to Resenbool. Tomorrow, they would give their last good byes to their fullmetal hearted boy. 


End file.
